Plant for the manufacture of shovels



(No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 1; H. M. MYERS.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVBLS, SPADBS, AND scoors.

No. 340,601. Patented Apr. 27, 1886.

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(No Model.) 6 SheetsSheet 2.

H. M. MYERS v PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, sums, AND scours. No. 340,601. Patented Apr. 27, 1886.

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(No Model.) 7 6 Sheets-Sheet 3.

H. M. MYERS.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, SPADES, AND SCOOPS. N0."340,601. PatentedApr. 27, 1886.

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(No Model.) 6 SheetsSheet 4.

H. M. MYERS.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, SPADES, AND scours. No. 340,601. Patented ApInZ'Z, 1886.

A WIT/VFW v \NIKVEIVTOH (No Model.) 6 Sheets8heet 5.

H. M. MYERS.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, SPADES, AND SCOOPS. No. 340,601. Patented Apr; 27, 1886.

(No Model.) 6 SheetsSheet 6.

H. M. MYERS.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, SPADES, AND SCOOPS.

No 340,601. Patented Apr. 27, 1886.

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HENRY M. MYERS, OF BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOVELS, SPADES, AND SCOOPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,601, dated April 27, 1886.

Application filed April 6, 1885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY M. MYERs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beaver Serial No. 161,277. (No model.)

partially rolling the blank shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a pair of finishing-rolls forthe further reduction of theblank.

Falls, in the county of Beaver and State of Fig. Sis a top view or plan of the blank when Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and l rolled out and ready for the shearing process.

useful Improvements in Plants for the Mannfacture of Shovels, Spades, or Scoops; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In the art of making shovels the great desideratum of the manufacturer is to produce the article with facility and by the employment of as little skilled labor as possible, so

that he can furnish the trade with shovels at 1 the minimum of cost.

In the present state of the art the manner of constructing shovels is such that a large '2 amount of the labor employed is skilled labor, and the process of forming the shovel-blade and its handle-straps consumes much time,and their production is costly.

The object of my improvement is to dis pense with most of the skilled labor now em ployed in the making of shovels, spades,'and scoops, and to produce them with facility and at a diminished cost, which is accomplished by the plant hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art with which my invention is most nearly connected to make and use it, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a diagram of the plant employed for carrying out the several steps of my invention. Fig. 2 represents a vertical longitudinal section or a furnace employed for heating the blanks prior to splitting and reducing them to the point of shearing. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a machine employed to split the tang of the.

blank and form the socket in the blank for receiving the end of the wooden handle. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a blank for making the shovel cut from said bar in the mannerindicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the blank after its tang has been split and the socket formed therein. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a pair of reducing-rolls for breaking down and l Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a pair of rolls i representing the manner of introducing the blank between the rolls hereinbefore -mentioned.

The several instrumentalities hereinbeforc mentioned and shown may be of any known construction and operatiomand arenot claimed as being of my invention, separately considered. l The furnace for heating the blanks of metal shown in Fig. 2 is located, as represented in I the diagram Fig. 1, and marked 1, with relation to the splitting-machine, (marked 2 in the diagram,and shown in Fig. 3,) which Inal chine splits the tang A of the blank 13, (shown 1 in Fig. 4,) and forms the socket therein for the l lower end of the wooden handle of the shovel, as indicated in Fig. 5. Alittle cinder is then placed in the socket and between the two parts of the split tangs to prevent their welding together while undergoing the rolling process. The blank is then removed to the breaking-down rolls, (marked 3 in the diagram, and represented in Fig. 6,) between which the blank is passed several times and reduced in thickness and increased in length. From this pair of rolls the partially-reduced blank is re- "moved to the finishing-rolls (marked 4 in the diagram, and represented in Fig. 7,) and passed between them until the blank is re- 1 duced to its desired thickness and length,and

if it is desired to point the blank it is removed to a pair of eccentric-rolls (marked 5 in the diagram Fig. 1) and pointed, which operation is well understood in analogous arts. I The blank shown in Fig. 5 is always entered between the rolls with the tang entering first, as shown in Fig. 9, and rolled lengthwise of the blank or blade of the shovel and its handle-straps, in contradistinction to the usual plan of rolling the blank transversely or at an oblique angle to the longitudinal axis of the blade and its handlestraps.

It has been found by experience that if the tang is not entered first between the rolls in the rolling of the blank they will spread laterally, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 8.

The blank after having been properly reduced, as hereinbefore described, is subjected to the shearing or trimming process well known in the art to which my invention relates, and is afterward given its desired form by suitable dies, provided with its wooden handle, and finished in any of the usual or preferred Ways.

The rolls represented in Figs. 6 and 7 are of the construction required when it is desired to have the shovel-blade and handle-straps with increased thickness in the center throughout the length of the blade and straps, and diminishing in thickness toward the side edges thereof, in which case the curved recess in the roll or rolls of Fig. 6, designated as the break ing-down roll in the diagram, is greater than the curved recess of the roll or rolls of Fig.7, designated as finishing-rolls in said diagram.

Experience has demonstrated that this difference between the two mills or sets of rolls is a necessity in the reducing process hereinbefore described, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art of rolling metals; but when it is desired to have the shovel-blades of uniform thickness plain rolls will be substituted for the rolls shown in the drawings.

The blank employed in makingshovels, and shown in Fig. 4, from the end 0 to D should be about equal in length to the desired width of the shovel-blade to be made therefrom.

It has been demonstrated by practice in my works at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. that by my method of manufacturing shovels and spades by means of the plant hereinbel'ore de scribed, in making one hundred dozen of shovels or spades five men and one boy accomplish it with more ease and do better work than was formerly done in said works by twenty-five men. In addition there is also this advantageviz. seventeen furnaces and fourteen tilt and steam hammers are dispensed with, and a saving of one hundred and forty bushels of coal is secured in the making of the said number of shovels and spades, which shovels or spades, under the said new method and said plant, are finished with more ease, are better in quality, and the waste of stock is diminished at least three pounds per dozen, and defects in the shovels and spades decreased nine-tenths,

%,)wh1ch, taken in connection with the economy of room, of fire brick and fire-clay, clearly indicates that the said method and plant is a step forward in the art of making shovels and spades of no small proportion, and which saves in the manufacture of shovels and spades one dollar and two cents per dozen, which fact has been ascertained by careful observation of the working of said plant and the expenses connected therewith as compared with the best method and means known to the art.

The blanksshown in FigsA= and 8 and the process involved in their production are claimed in other applications for Letters Patent marked Cases B, O, and E, respectively, Serial Nos. 155,521, 155.522, and 155,654.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I herein claim is For the manufacture of shovels, spades, or scoops, to the shearing-point, a plant comprising a furnace, a machine for splitting the tang of the blank to form the handle-straps and the socket, a pair of breakingdown rolls, a pair of fiuishingrolls. and a pair of pointing-rolls, all arranged and operating with relation to each other substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY M. MYERS.

Witnesses:

J AMES J JOHNSTON, WM. R. DAVIS. 

